Compensating bushing for rail joints



i Sept I930- E. F. SCHERMERHORN 1,775,573

COMPENSATING BUSHING FOR RAIL JOIN P S Filed April 2 1929 2 Sheets-Sheetl E1 7 Schermerhorn,

p 9, 1930. E. F. SCHERMERHORN I I 5, 7

' COMPENSATING BUSHING FOR RAIL JOINTS Filed April'2, 1929 2Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES/-- Patented Sept. 9,1930

UNITED STATES rA'rsm OFFICE i EDWARDS r. sonnmvrnnnonu, oF'BaooKLYN, NEWYonx, ASSIGNOR TO THE RAIL i post.

Joint: ooMPAnY, on NEW 03K; in.

in, A CORPORA'IiON 01 new YonK i o0MPnusa'rnvcrfnusinus non RAIL JoIN'rs5 Application fiiedn rn 2,

i This invention relates to practical im provements in railjoints andhas for its object to provide simple, inexpensive eflicient means tocompensatefor the difference in diameter between the bolts and the boltholes in the rails, particularly of insulated joints, whereby longevityofthe jointbars and particularly of the joint insulation maybe ob,-tained. a

In the production of rail joints it is standard practice toprovideinthe-webs ofthe rails bolt receivingiholes considerably larger.

in diameter than the diameter ofithe oint bolts in order to allow: forexpansion'and contraction of the rails due to temperature changes. Theresulting clearance. between the bolts and. the sides of the holes.allows a gap betweenthe rail ends of usually from one-eight toone-quarter of'an inch in width,

or even more, when the railsare moved apart to the furthest limitallowed .by the'bolts. This gap islnecessary, but is recognized as beingdestructive tolboth joint bars and rail ends because of the poundproduced by Wheels jumping thereover. In aninsulated joint it isconsiderably more destructive than in an all-steel joint because aninsulating end post at least one quarter of an inch in thicknessmust beinserted between the ends of the rails, and when the usual expansionallowance is added there results a gap between the rail ends of anywherefrom three-eighths to three-quarters ofan inch in width and the pound ofthe wheelsacross thisexcessive gap subjects all parts of thejoint, andparticu lating end post, and consequently end post "renewals heretoforehave'of necessity been frequent. The problem of gaining longer life forthe insulation and alsofor the other Joint 1929. Serial No. 351,940.

parts is solved according to this invention by tween the bolts and thewalls of bolt holes in the rails, whereby the bolts maybe caused tofunction to hold the rails against movement both towardsand awayfrom'one another. 7 7

embodiment in different structural arrangements, certa n of which areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood,however, that the structures shown are intended merelyas disclosures ofthe essential {features and novel characteristics of the invention incertain preferred forms and that variousmodifications thereof may beresorted ;to within the spirit and scope of the inven- .tion as definedin the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, wherein jlike characters of referencedenote corre .sponding parts in the different views Figure .1 is alongitudinal sectional view of a well known formof rail joint having thepresent improvement, in one practical form embodied thereln beforeHanging.

Figure 2 1s a transverse sectlon ofthe jolnt shown in Fig. 1 afterflanging.

Figure 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing another embodiment of theinvention.

Figure a is a view similar to Figs. 2 and 3 showing afurther.modification of the invention, and larly the insulation, toexcessive wear. To -reducethis gap to aminimum it has been customary topunch the bolt holes in the joint bars so that they will notcenter withthe Figure 5 is a perspective view of the compensatlng bushing shown inF igs. 1 and 2. Referring to the drawings 1n detail, 1t will 3 beobserved that-the rail joint shown is of conventional design andincludes in its organization the rails A, the oint bars B, 10-

e ated at opposite sides of the rails, respectively, which bars may beof any preferred type, and joint bolts C engaged through'holes in thejoint bars and the rails to maintain the joint parts assembled.

Although the present improvements are not restricted to incorporation ininsulated joints or in joints of any special or particular constructlon,it 1s 1n 1nsulated oints that The present inventiveideaaiscapable ofthey are possessed of most marked utility and accordingly a well knownform of insulated joint has been chosen for purposes of illustrating theinvention. This joint is of the well known continuous type employing theusual head and base insulation 1O, 11, respectively, between the jointbars and the rails; bolt insulating sleeves 12 betweenthe bolts and thewalls of the bolt holes in the joint bar; suitable insulation 13 betweenthe heads and the nuts of thebolts and the outer faces of the jointbars, respectively. and an insulating end post 1% between the ends ofthe rails.

As previously mentioned it is standard practice under normal conditionsto drill the bolt holes in the webs of the rails considerably larger indiameter than the bolts that are to be engaged therein, and to punch thebolt holes in the joint bars so that they will not center with the holesin the rails, whereby the bolts will serve to prevent the rails beingmoved more than a predetermined distance apart. As is apparent, however,this method of placing the bolts otters no resistance to the railsmoving together and crushing the end post 14. Under other conditions itfrequently is necessary to employ bolts of smalL er than standarddiameter for certain joints, for example, in joints where bolts ofrelatively small diameter are necessitated on ac count of restrictedfishing dimensions of the oint bar sections, which means, of course,maximum permissive movement of the rails relatively to one another.Accordingly, it is proposed by the present invention to punch the holesin the joint bars so that they will center with the holes in the railsand to fill or substantially fill the space between the bolts and thewalls of the bolt holes in the rails by suitable means such as bushings15, whereby any appreciable movement of the rails either towards or awayfrom one another will be prevented.

If the spaces between the bolts and the walls of the bolt holes in therails are not of too great width single bushings such, for example, asillustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 5 may be employed to fill or substantiallyfill them. In fact, single bushings may beemployed irrespective of theclearance between the bolts and the walls of the bolt holes in therails, but in order to provide a flexible and economical stockarrangement of bushings tor fitting different diameters of bolts andbolt holes, it may be preferable to provide the bushings in differentsizes to be fitted into or telescope with one another, as illustratedfor example at 16 in Figs. 3 and 4 oi the drawings, where by,irrespective of the width of the clearance space to be filled orsubstantially filled, different sizes of bushing used in multiple, thatis, fitted into or telescoped with one another,

may be employed to eliminate the excessive clearance.

In either event, the bushings may be initially flanged at one end asindicated at 17 in Figs. 2, 3 and 5 oi? the drawings for engagement withone side of the rail web when they are slipped into the bolt holes, toprevent them from passing through the web, and, if desired, theirunfianged ends may be provided with any suitable number of slits 18 orother instrumentality to facilitate fianging over of such ends followinginstallation, which operation may readily be accomplished. by thetrackman just prior to applying the joint bars and bolts. l urthermore,their surfaces may be smooth to enable them to be slipped endwise intoone another, or they may be threaded as illustrated in Fig. 4 so thatthey may be screwed into one another, in which event it iscontemplatedthat each of them will be provided at one end with a flange19 so that by inserting one from one side of the rail and another fromthe other side of the rail they may be drawn tightly into engagementwith one another to secure them in the bolt holes.

It is apparent that the use of bushings or fillers as shown anddescribed will efifect material economy in rail joints by restrictinginsulation abrading and crushing movements of the parts of the jointsand thereby reducing the frequency of necessary renewals of the variousinsulation members.

lVithout further description it is thought that the features andad-vanages of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form,proportion and minor details of construction may beresorted to, withoutdeparting from the spirit of .the invention and scope of the appendedclaims.

I claim 1. An insulated rail joint construction, including incombination with the rail having a bolt holetherein, the joint barshaving bolt holes axially aligned with the bolt hole in the rail, andthe joint bolt extendingthrough the aligned bolt holes and of lessdiameter than the same, of a separate insulating bushing unitsubstantially filling the interval between the bolt and the wall of thebolt hole in the rail and having holding elements at opposite endsthereof for cooperation with opposite sides of the rail web,respectively, to retain said unit within the hole in the rail.

2. An insulated rail joint construction, including in combination withthe rail having a bolt hole therein, the joint bars having bolt holesaxially aligned with the bolt hole in the opposite sides of the rail Webto retain said elements in telescoped relation to one another and Withinthe hole in the rail. f

3. An insulated rail joint construction, including in combination withthe rail having a bolt hole therein, joint bars having bolt holesaxially aligned With the bolt hole in the rail, and a joint boltextending through the aligned bolt holes, of joint insulation includinga separate filler bushing substantially filling the space between thebolt and the Wall of the hole in the rail, said bushing being flanged atone end and slit at theother.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

EDWARDS F. SCHERMERHORN.

